Archived News:

Wednesday, Mar 07, 2018

Oculus Rift headsets ceased operating today, leaving owners with virtually no
way to enjoy their virtual reality. Thanks
TechCrunch for pointing the way to
this post that explains Oculus is working on the issue, which apparently
stems from an expired security certificate, making for some extremely
unhappy customers:

We are aware of and actively investigating an issue
impacting ability to access Rift software. Our teams apologize for any
inconvenience this may be causing you and appreciate your patience while we work
on a resolution. We'll share more updates here as we have them. Thanks.

Update:
Hey everyone - This is an issue with our software certification that we're still
actively working on. For security, we use a certificate to ensure that the
software you receive actually comes from Oculus. That certificate has expired,
and we're looking at a few different ways to resolve the issue. We’ll update you
with the latest info as available. We recommend you wait until we provide an
official fix. Thanks for your patience.

Epic Games
tweets about plans to update Fortnite Battle Royale tomorrow (thanks
GameInformer). This includes a short video explaining this will add a new
mode for a limited time. Word is the game's one-versus-99 and 50-versus-50 modes
will be joined by a five team mode that will make for 20 players to a side
matches:

CHUCHEL is now available for Windows and macOS on
GOG.com and
Steam offering
the new abstract comedic adventure from Amanita Design, developers of
Machinarium, Botanicula, and Samorost. Here's
a trailer showing the
game's antics in action, and here are more details from its description:

CHUCHEL is a comedy adventure game from the creators of Machinarium,
Botanicula and Samorost. Join the hairy hero Chuchel and his rival Kekel as they
will be facing numerous puzzles and challenges in their quest to retrieve the
precious cherry!

The reward? Cheerful situational humor, wild music and sounds by the band DVA
and dozens of hilarious gags that warm up even the coldest of souls. Plus
cherries!

Northgard is now officially available
on Steam,
offering this Windows Norse mythology strategy game following an early access
run. As is explained in
this post the full game includes the launch of the Rig's Saga campaign as
well as a bunch of other changes and fixes for the early access edition. They
also say the macOS and Linux editions will be released tomorrow. Developer Shiro
Games also offers
this
official release announcement with details and
this trailer. Here's
more:

After a year of Early Access, Northgard is OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED! :D
You can now update your game to its 1.0 version and enjoy the full campaign!

In this campaign, you'll be playing Rig, son of the Viking High King, in his
quest for vengeance after the murder of his father. Through the different
chapters, you get the help of his bannermen. To completely finish the 11
chapters of the campaign, you will need to master all the clan's specificities
and tame the wilderness of Northgard...

But that's not the only thing we added in this release!

Starting today, you'll have the possibility to
created solo and multiplayer games on 7 different environments

Steam now offers
the full version of Kite, a twin-stick shooter that has flown out of early
access. This trailer offers
a look at this game's frantic pace and throwback graphics. Here's word on the
game, which confirms the title is based on how much kiting one does in such
games:

As Mags – a well-equipped H.O.R.D. pilot – your mission is to preserve the
blanket of peace surrounding the world. To do so, you’ll engage in the
gunplay-ballet known as 'kiting' – dashing away from mobs of rebellious bots
while blasting through lush, destructible environments.

Utilize 100+ craftable weapons and items to enhance your battle Droid. Bring
your combat capabilities to the next level by learning skills from a vast
76-point skill tree. Power up a slew of upgrades and special abilities –
providing all the tools necessary to kite enemies into oblivion!

KEY FEATURES

Smash and explode your way through destructible
pixel art environments.

Steam now offers the Windows edition of SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, a
third-person shooter where the players are busty, bikini-clad schoolgirls doing
battle with super-soaker water guns. The
launch trailer shows
this is far more over-the-top than your wildest imaginings, showing the latest
refinements in boob-splashing physics. Here's the explanation of how something
so clean can be so dirty:

XSEED Games, the independent-minded publishing
brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., today announced that SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach
Splash – the sultry, summer-themed third person “splasher” in its popular busty
brawler series – is now available on Windows PC exclusively via Steam. SENRAN
KAGURA series fans and aquatic shooter enthusiasts can pick up the title
digitally as a standard edition for $39.99, €39.99, and £29.99 or as part of the
“Sexy Soaker” special edition for $49.99, €49.99, and £39.99. The special
edition comes stuffed with the digital soundtrack and five exclusive DLC items:
the Soaking Wet High School Uniform costume, a set of colorful bikini costumes,
the Futomaki Roll Bazooka special weapon, a Bebeby pet card, and a special set
of skill cards. XSEED Games is celebrating this launch with a 10% discount on
both the standard and special editions of SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash,
which will be applicable until 10AM PST on March 14.

A tweet from NBA
on ESPN has a shot of Houston Rockets guard James Harden arriving at the
arena last night (presumably early, after learning he was to be guarded all night by
Carmelo Anthony). It's hard to notice anything else in a photo of Harden besides
his glorious beard, but
Kotaku notes the remedial Roman numeral on his hat IIII looks suspiciously like Black
Ops typography. It is certainly similar, but by no means a slam-dunk. This plays
into recentrumors about plans for Call of
Duty: Black Ops 4, err, IV, err IIII. They say Activision did not respond to
a request for comment, but in an update posted after their original report
Kotaku says they've confirmed this is the logo for Black Ops IIII, vaguely
attributing this to "one source."

Stunlock Studios announces Season 1 is now underway in BATTLERITE, their online brawler. This
will introduce some changes like a reworked reward system along with the game's
newest champion, Jamila, a Shadowblade Assassin.
This trailer shows off
Jamila in action, and the announcement has details on the new reward system and
more:

Independent developer Stunlock Studios announced that Season 1 of
their PvP arena brawler, Battlerite, kicks off today, bringing along exciting
new changes. The new Sponsor Reward System expands on the current daily quests
by allowing players to follow specific reward paths to unlock Champions, earn
in-game currency as well as obtain season-specific rewards. Moreover, a new
Champion Jamila, the Shadowblade Assassin, joins the arena, ready to swiftly
release a deadly shuriken on anyone who dares to undermine her leadership.

“We updated the reward system in order to acknowledge the daily efforts of
competitive players, and to make sure casual gamers don’t feel left out. That’s
why the new system has multiple Sponsor paths, some fitting less frequent play
styles and others having a League requirement for higher ranked players”, said
Peter Ilves, Game Director at Stunlock Studios. “All the content is now
connected through the reward paths that piece together new places and characters
into a more cohesive and ever expanding Battlerite universe.”

Other new features in Season 1 include Leaderboards of top 200 players in five
Regions (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania), ability for
League players to change their selected Champion in a pre-game lobby according
to the team and enemy picks as well as improvements to matchmaking and ranking
systems. Battlerite now also has a unique application kit in VR called ‘CamCrew’.
This feature allows players to watch live matches and replays in VR and also
control the camera movement in full 3D in order to produce stunning cinematic
shots for streaming or render to video.

Burn Ward Games announces Rocket Jockey, an Unreal Engine 4 remake of the
1996 action game of the same name that's coming to Windows and consoles, though
no release dates are set at this time. This is a ground-up project involving
none of the assets or developers from the original game, though they express a
determination to capture its flavor.
This website has details and
this teaser trailer
offers a look at pre-alpha gameplay footage. Here's word:

A reimagining
of one of the most overlooked games from the 90’s, Rocket Jockey brings back all
of the chaos, surf guitar, and humor of Rocket Science Game's original 1996 cult
classic. Fly on top of modern jet engines with classic car chassis at break-neck
speeds. Use your left and right grappling hooks to swing around pillars and grab
other players off of their rockets. Drag, fling, clothesline, slam and string up
your friends.

A team-based vehicle sport that plays like a cross between “Rocket League” and
“Smash Bros”

Mistaken Visions announces The Piano is coming in the spring, describing
this noir horror adventure as "ambitious," as it's been in development for five
years now. They say they've teamed with consultants Game If You Are to complete
the project, a collaboration that's resulted in the addition of full voice
acting for the entire cast and other enhancements. Here's a
new teaser trailer
which features Ave Maria as a soundtrack, obviously played on the violin. Here
are more details from the announcement:

Born to an American father and a
French mother in the aftermath of the Great War, John Barnerway lived in the
shadow of his three brothers. George, Louis and Valentine were renowned pianists
- but when John is accused of their murders, he finds himself at the centre of a
media witch-hunt that sees him traversing the lonely streets of Paris in search
of answers.

Part traditional survival horror, part story-driven adventure, and part
noir-influenced murder mystery, The Piano is an unsettling and riveting indie
game more than five years in the making.

Longbow Games announces Golem, a puzzle/adventure game coming to PCs this
spring. This is not to be confused with Golem Gates, a CCG/RTS game coming to
Windows this spring. They offer
a teaser trailer along
with scant details, but they are showing the game off later this month at the
Game Developers Conference, so we'll probably hear more about it then. In the
meantime, here's what they are revealing:

Get a first glimpse at
adventure puzzle game Golem from Longbow Games with the below first gameplay
trailer. In it you’ll discover a young girl and a shape-shifting golem
traversing through the ruins of an ancient tower to solve its challenging
puzzles and re-activate its long-dormant machines.

Launching this spring on PC, Golem has players controlling both the young girl
and the golem while navigating through expansive levels, from caverns deep below
the tower to the windswept turrets perched about the surrounding desert.
Throughout the journey, the golem evolves to allow players new abilities to
solve puzzles.

Publisher Ripstone and developer Auroch Digital announce Achtung! Cthulhu
Tactics will be released later this year for PC and consoles, offering this
crowdfunded strategy/RPG where
supernatural forces play a significant role in the outcome of World War II.
Here's a trailer
from this Hitler meets Lovecraft mashup, and here are more details:

Veteran strategy game developer Auroch Digital, and indie publisher
extraordinaire Ripstone have collaborated with the award-winning table top team
at Modiphius to create Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics - The Forest of Fear which is
set for release on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch later this
year.

Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is a World War II themed strategic role-playing game in
which the player controls an army of Allied heroes trapped behind enemy lines
trying to uncover and foil a Nazi plot of terrifying evil. The game draws from
the award-winning Achtung! Cthulhu roleplaying universe developed by Modiphius,
which sees the Nazis turn to other-worldly mythical beings to bolster their war
effort.

The game encompasses an array of unique gameplay features, including an
innovative combat system constructed around the theme of light vs darkness.
Representing the battle of ‘good vs evil’, Allied characters find solace in the
light whilst the opposing Nazi army hide in the shadows awaiting their moment to
strike. A skilled player can use this light and dark feature to provide an edge
to their gameplay strategy.

Twitch now offers a free copy of Devil May Cry HD to all Twitch Prime
users (thanks
GameInformer). Here's word:

Description
All Twitch Prime members receive Devil May Cry HD - one part of the Devil May
Cry HD Collection, as a free gift.

Features

Meet Dante, the world's most powerful demon
hunter, in Devil May Cry - the inaugural installment of the hit series!

Dante, the descendant of the legendary Sparda,
must fight against the return of the Prince of Darkness - Mundus. With the
inclusion of the demon transforming "Devil Trigger" system and a satisfying
combination of sword based melee attacks with dual wielding pistols

Devil May Cry established the very core of the
series to come, and made a name for itself in the "Stylish Action" genre.
Devil May Cry set a new bar for video game visuals and its gameplay still
has an influence on action games today.

Well, we're having more serious weather less than a week after the last
nor'easter, as Winter Storm Quinn has rolled in. This was not as dramatic as
predicted when we
first got up today, but the snow has been picking up steadily, so it's not out
of the question that we'll end up with the predicted 18" when it's all
said and done. But all we have to do is look across the street to our neighbor
who is still without power from the last storm for inspiration to count our
blessings. Here's hoping everyone in the path can stay safe and warm. Hot cocoa
seems like a good idea around now.